Sarah's Flowers

The yellow petals of my sunflowers leaned upward to soak up the bright sun rays. I was outside doing my usual Sunday afternoon gardening. I took in the sweet smells of the gardenias and pushed my knees deeper into the dirt so I could reach the thirsty flowers. Across the street, I noticed a moving van pull into an empty driveway. The house it sat in front of had been on the market for a while and I assumed it was finally sold. I watched the movers unload the van and continued to tend to my garden. The information soon slipped my mind and I went about my week. The next Sunday, while repotting some older plants into newer pots, I felt a strange presence. I turned around to face my fence and saw a small girl peering at me. She seemed quite uneasy and alarmed that I had caught her watching me. I could tell she wanted to run away but she stayed standing there as I walked over to her. “Do you like flowers?” I asked her. She slowly shook her head yes. I had never paid any attention to the few kids that were in the neighborhood but was sure I had never seen this girl before. “Did you just move here?”, I urged as she informed me that she and her mother had moved in across the street the previous weekend. She looked so lonely and sad so I invited her into the garden. As I opened the fence door, she carefully stepped down the stone pathway as quiet as a mouse. She made herself a seat on a small pile of dirt and continued to watch me as I repotted the plants. “I think the yellow flowers would be pretty in the white pot.”, she informed me. I gave her a smile to calm her nervousness and complied with her request. Soon she was in the dirt helping an giving me direction. I began to ask her where she was from and a little about her life. I learned that young Sarah’s (that was her name) parents had divorced and she and her mother moved from California to Texas. I also learned that she was recently diagnosed with leukemia. She confided all of her worries and fears into me as if I were her only friend. I imagined the fear she felt and was so deeply hurt for her little life. I soon heard Sarah’s mother call her home and we hugged and said goodbye. She returned every Sunday and took a real interest in gardening. She absolutely loved the sunflowers. Over the next months, I stopped seeing Sarah. She no longer came to visit and I never saw her outside. Out of concern, I went over to her house and knocked on the door. A woman who I presumed to be her mother answered the door. She was visibly distressed and I immediately knew. Sarah had succumbed to the cancer. “You can come to the funeral if you would like. Sarah loved your garden.” she told me. Sarah’s funeral was held the following Sunday. The despair at the funeral home was unbearable. After everyone had paid their respects, I made my way over to her grave and placed a single sunflower, a “Sarahflower”, onto her stone. I went home and tended the beautiful sunflowers Sarah had come to love and named the patch respectively “Sarah’s Flowers”.